TPC-Digests-V1-Issues-123

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of parenthood education with an alternative school student population. Eighty- two alternative school students, grades 7 through 12, were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. After the experimental group completed a 16-session parenthood education program, differences between the two groups were tested using two measures: Self- Efficacy Scale and Parent Effectiveness. Compared to the control group, the experimental group demonstrated an overall higher mean with both the General Self- efficacy and the Social Self-efficacy scales. Using a two-way ANOVA, test statistically significant results were obtained from four main effect analyses: (1) General Self-efficacy measure (group by gender of primary caregiver); (2) Social Self-efficacy measure (gender of primary caregiver); (3) Social Self- efficacy measure (group by number of parents in the household); and (4) Parent Effectiveness (group). Interestingly, the Parent Effectiveness measure actually produced results counter to the purported outcome. The major limitation of this study, from the researcher’s perspective, was conducting the program with the entire experimental group (39 students) placed in one large instructional setting. Generalizability of the study findings beyond this population is limited. Because the population consisted of only one alternative school in North Idaho, caution is advised in generalizing the results to other settings. In order to extend generalizability, future research should replicate the current study parameters in similar populations. Unless a proactive approach is implemented, the cyclic pattern of dysfunctional parenting... will continue. TPC Digest